The effects of emotional content and time lapse reporting on eyewitness testimony

Abstract:

This experiment aimed to examine the influence of emotional versus non-emotional events on the recall and accuracy of eyewitness memory, and how the time between viewing the scene and reporting back about it affects the recall and accuracy. Four condition groups were established all viewing the same video but being told they were seeing either “actual footage” of a crime scene or a “reenactment”, and two taking the survey immediately after the video and the remaining two taking it four days later. The survey consisted of two open-ended questions asking for details about all aspects of the crime scene. Our experiment results established that the emotional level of the video affected recall but the time lapse did not have a statistically significant difference. We found that emotionality of a crime scene was positively correlated with recall accuracy. (Author abstract)